Depth Charge

In January, The Pirate Bay added a new category to their
compendium of copyright theft/information sharing. The Swedish site
called the section Physibles, saying in a blog post: "We believe
that the next step in copying will be from digital form into
physical form. It will be physical objects... We believe that you
will download your sneakers within 20 years."

Twenty years is generous. Lisa Harouni, the CEO of 3D printing
company Digital Forming, gives home-printed trainers five years.
The process, which turns digital 3D models into physical objects,
laid down layer by layer just like your home inkjet printing on
paper, has been around for 20 years, mainly used for rapid
prototyping.

It won't be long before anyone will be able to download bits,
hit print and turn them into real things: not just sneakers, but
bicycles (EADS printed one in nylon plastic), food (MIT developed a
3D printer for chocolate), even computers. The first industrial
revolution led to a ten-fold increase in per capita income. Time
for the next one.